Hyoyeon fitted herself in front of the mirror. Knee-length peach summer dress and a matched color hair band on her hair. She looked alright, she admitted. But still, she felt uneasy, feeling as if she was preparing for her very first date.

But she wasn’t. She was dressing up to meet her very first crush; the one who remained in her heart in a very long time without any hint to be leaving at all. So yes, she had every reason to feel nervous.

Her phone rang, and Hyoyeon put down the clutch she was choosing to grab the phone. Sooyoung’s name lit up on the screen and Hyoyeon pressed the answer button, smiling.

“Are you done dressing up?” came Sooyoung’s loud voice without any greetings from both sides. Hyoyeon chuckled at her friend’s impatience. She picked a beige clutch at last and headed for the door; keeping the phone dialed.

“In a minute.” she answered. “I’m heading downstairs now. Where are you?” she asked, picking a pair of beige heels from the shoe rack and put it on using only one hand.

“Downstairs. For already ten minutes now.” Sooyoung answered flatly. Hyoyeon gasped, a little bit amused, and fastened her pace, half running to the door and opened it to reveal Sooyoung’s silver car parked in front. Sooyoung opened the car’s window, motioning for her to move faster. There was a beep sound on Hyoyeon’s ear, indicating that Sooyoung just ended the call. Smiling, Hyoyeon saved the phone in her clutch and locked the door before cantering towards Sooyoung’s car.

“Sorry.” was the first thing she said. Sooyoung simply clucked her tongue, turning on the engine. Not long after, their car had been taken off into the road.

“When will you learn not to be late, seriously?” she nagged, to which Hyoyeon responded with an embarrassed grin.

“Hey. I have improved.” she protested jokingly, only to be rewarded by the shaking of Sooyoung’s head. Sooyoung tossed her now long hair over her shoulder, glancing shortly at Hyoyeon before turning her attention back to the road.

“You sure put an effort.” she commented, amused. “I mean, a summer dress?” she chuckled.

“Hey, it’s hot today.” Hyoyeon defended herself, her cheeks tinted pink. Sooyoung simply giggled at her friend’s reply. The traffic light flashed a red light and Sooyoung put her car to a halt. This time she really glanced Hyoyeon’s way, putting a serious expression.

“So you’ll meet him again.” she said carefully. Anything related to Hyukjae had never been an easy topic with Hyoyeon. Ever since the incident on the graduation day, she had completely closed herself from any conversation regarding that guy. Sooyoung had tried repetitively, and failed in the exact same amount, to convince her to contact Hyukjae, even only for his birthday. But Hyoyeon had rejected her firmly, declaring that Hyukjae might not want any contact with her, so why embarrass herself?

The telephone works both ways, she had said. If Hyukjae wanted to contact her, then he would. And then she would close the topic and moved the conversation into something unrelated.

Sooyoung wanted to scream, wanted to plant some logic in her friend’s mind, wanted to remind her that Hyukjae had initiated the contact with his birthday greeting, but Hyoyeon had turned him down with a simple two words: thank you. That was all she could write to her long crush.

But even when Sooyoung was torn between her frustrated feelings toward her best friend, she realized what made Hyoyeon act that way.

She was really scared to be hurt.

And no matter how ridiculous it might sound, hiding in the sweet memories without any ending that might hurt her worked better for her.

“Yes.” Hyoyeon shortly answered, as she usually did every time Sooyoung brought Hyukjae up in a conversation.

“So-” Sooyoung tried to speak again but Hyoyeon quickly cut her, pointing to the traffic light.

“Oh, it’s green already.” she exclaimed, a little too loud. Sooyoung scanned her friend’s firm expression for a second, sighing, and started the car. Clearly, the conversation had ended again.

_____

The hall was already extremely crowded when they arrived. The sea of people chattering while holding up glasses were filling the room, but it was so easy to spot Siwon; standing tall and classy, extremely stood out between the people surrounding them. The tall Sooyoung spotted him right away and waved, dragging the poor Hyoyeon who had to put up with her space with much difficulty with her short legs. It was only when they arrived and Sooyoung let go of her did Hyoyeon realize where Sooyoung had taken her.

She gazed up, slightly panting, and met gaze with Siwon, smiling down at her with his gorgeous smile. But Hyoyeon’s gaze was quick to move towards his side, as she really used to do a long time ago, back when they were still in high school. And there he was, standing with a bright smile beside her three old pals. He wore a black shirt and his hair was dyed blonde, contrasting very finely with his dark top.

For a moment Hyoyeon had forgotten to breathe. The old memories quickly struck her, like some very fast short cuts of an old movie; starting when Hyukjae approached her on the first day at school, him offering her a ride, and their ride to the bus halt. Those sweet memorable rides.

“You haven’t changed.” Hyukjae smiled. Hyoyeon didn’t realize that Hyukjae was talking to her; nor did she realize that anyone was talking at all. The world felt like a mute black and white movie with Hyukjae as the only colored center.

Sooyoung nudged her, and Hyoyeon quickly took herself back from her daze, extremely embarrassed.

“Um, r-really?” she stuttered, mentally face-palming herself. What was she doing? Why didn’t she just yell her feelings right there; that way she could be more obvious, Hyoyeon cursed herself.

“Except for the hair.” Hyukjae continued. “Blonde is definitely a trend nowadays.” he added proudly, flipping his blonde bangs. While the others chose to ignore Hyukjae’s antique ways, Kyuhyun couldn’t pass the chance to mock the older guy.

“Seriously? It works on her. But looks terrible on you. I don’t even understand why she could stand a minute with you.” he said, his eyes sparkling mischievously. Hyukjae simply ignored him, but Hyoyeon couldn’t. A ‘she’. She exchanged nervous glances with Sooyoung, who seemed to think the same thing she did.

Donghae was the first one to notice the two girls’ questioning eyes.

“He has a fiancé now.” he kindly explained. “They will be married at the end of this year.” he added. But the rest of his words just sunk in Hyoyeon’s ear as she stuck at the realization of Donghae’s first statement.

He has a fiancé now.

The words rang painfully in her ear, as if they were shouted. Her eyes felt hot and Hyoyeon realized, with anxiety; that her tears would drop any second.

So her feeling was really one-sided after all.

“Wow. Congratulations.” Sooyoung exclaimed loudly, trying to make up for Hyoyeon’s zero response. Hyukjae grinned; a happy expression was painted on his face.

“Thank you. You have to attend our wedding. And you too, Hyo!” he shifted his gaze to Hyoyeon. Sooyoung glanced discreetly to Hyoyeon, torn between anxiety and worry. She knew for sure that the news must have been a big blow for her, after those seven years she spent harboring feelings only for him.

But Hyoyeon had gazed back at him with a blank stare and an expressionless smile; but a smile nonetheless.

“Of course. Congratulations.” she answered. The voice sounded distant and strange, even for her; but fortunately the four guys didn’t show any hint of suspicion at all.

“Would you imagine it? Never knew amongst us he would be the first one getting married.” Kyuhyun broke the stiff situation and soon the situation warmed up again. All of them, with the exception of Hyoyeon, were laughing and joking, reminiscing their past. It was almost the end of the reunion when Hyukjae shifted his glance to Hyoyeon and approached her with a smile.

“Hey, can we talk for a moment?” he whispered, clearly didn’t want the others to overhear.

“Sure.” Hyoyeon heard herself answering, and soon they were leaning on the wall; away from their friends and the crowd.

“Can you believe it? It’s been seven years.” he opened the conversation. Hyoyeon couldn’t react any further than a smile. Even wearing a smile had cost her much effort, when all she wanted was running away from him and cry.

For a while, there was silence between them until Hyukjae decided to break it again.

“You know, Hyo. It might be awkward, but I had determined to let it out. Listen, the reason I came to this reunion was you.” he confessed; his eyes stared into Hyoyeon’s warmly. Hyoyeon stayed silent; it was the same reason for her too. Hyukjae scratched his head awkwardly and Hyoyeon waited, remained mute.

“The thing is, there is something I really want to tell you.” he began again. “I liked you.” he blurted. Hyoyeon’s eyes widened in surprise, but Hyukjae quickly continued, didn’t give Hyoyeon a chance to react properly. “I really liked you, back when we were in high school. I once wanted to confess, you know.” he laughed shyly. “On the graduation. But you gave the flowers to Donghae. Imagine how heartbroken I was. Meany.” he joked.

Hyoyeon’s mind suddenly became blank until the scene of her handing a bouquet of flowers to Donghae emerged. She never knew Hyukjae’s reaction when she did that. She never took a glance at him at all, scared to see a surprised happy expression he might make; a legit proof that Hyukjae was indeed had no feelings for her at all.

So Hyoyeon chose not to see.

But she knew now. Her heart ached when the realization struck her. They loved each other and Hyoyeon ruined it all because of her cowardliness. She forced herself to gaze at Hyukjae again, maintaining a hurtful neutral expression. The latter was gazing down at her with an oblivious smile.

“I was heartbroken for over a year because of you, until I met her.” Hyukjae continued again, staring at the nothingness with warm eyes at the thought of his new loved one.

“You love her.” Hyoyeon managed to say. It wasn’t the question; it was a statement. Hyukjae let out a soft laugh before nodding.

“Very much.” he replied. “And she is the jealous type so I think I have to tell you these things before I tie the knot with her,” he laughed, “or else she might count it as a betrayal.”

All Hyoyeon could do was nod. Hyukjae’s words kept ringing, unable to leave her ears.

I liked you.

The answer to all of her ponders for seven years.

She smiled sadly and gazed at Hyukjae again, staring at his eyes, searching for the seven years ago Hyukjae whom she once loved; whom she still loved until now.

“I liked you too, sunbae.” she confessed with a soft voice, almost like a whisper. Hyukjae looked taken aback. His eyes widened with surprise and his mouth hung agape. But soon the smile emerged on his face as he stared at Hyoyeon’s eyes, the stare he usually gave her seven years ago. They stared at each other, realizing the love they might have, the one that lost without even a chance to bloom at all. And for a moment, Hyoyeon felt like she was staring at the high school Hyukjae, and a strange warmness felt her heart.

“Thank you.” Hyukjae uttered, his eyes made a crescent shape as he smiled gratefully. “Thanks for telling me that, Hyo. For liking me back then.” he continued sincerely. Hyoyeon’s throat felt clogged when she nodded, hiding her now teary eyes.

Her seven years crush had ended.

_____

I liked you.

If Hyoyeon had confessed, if she had given the flowers to Hyukjae instead, would everything change?

If she was brave enough; if she had tried harder, would he be her man? Would she go to the reunion, linked hands with Hyukjae, and announce their marriage?

Hyoyeon would never know.

But in the end, the fact was clear; she wasted her chance and she paid seven years for it, probably more.

If Hyoyeon had never attended the reunion, would it hurt less? Would she be able to forget him gradually without having this kind of pain?

Or would she spend the rest of her time just wondering?

Hyoyeon lowered her head; a drop of tears escaped her eyes, followed with another, and soon her cheeks had wet with tears.

Some things are better left as sweet memories.

Hyoyeon wiped her tears, but soon another drop trickled down her cheek.

I liked you, sunbae.  I still do.

And Hyoyeon kept walking, the tears soaked her face but Hyoyeon didn’t care anymore. She would be fine, she promised herself. She would find someone else, creating her new sweet memories.

She would move on.

And this time she would not look back.

_____THE END_____

I'm sorry I made this bitter ending. I will make happier HyoHyuk story next time. Promise. ^^

Meanwhile, thanks to cuteninja8 for creating this contest. You truly inspired me. ^^

And thanks for everyone of you who commented, subscribed, voted. Just know that you're greatly appreciated.

hyo_jinki signing out.

See you! ^^